Sporting battle scars from twenty years of top-flight action, Barry knows there are to be many more "ups and downs" for the Baggies between now and May. In a critical Premier League survival mission, he says it's up to the team to provide more of the former.

"It will be a case of taking things one game at a time. There are going to be a lot of up and downs between now and the end of the season," he said. "It's up to us to make sure there are more ups.

"The home form is going to be vital. That's probably why the Southampton result has knocked us a bit. Before that the results and performances had been really good so it's important to put that one to bed really early, go into Chelsea and then from then on be really positive about our form and take it through to the end of the season."

Monday night's Stamford Bridge showdown presents the perfect opportunity for Albion to bounce back from a wounding reverse against Southampton last weekend; the "good thing about football" according to Gareth.

"Like anytime when there's a disappointing result you're down after the game. But the good thing about football is there's always another game. The disappointing thing is there isn't one until Monday.

"We've worked really hard so far this week, really determined to try and put things right. We're looking forward to the game on Monday and we'll try to be positive about our situation.

"The atmosphere's been good in training, we've put in some really good work. Obviously it's a longer week than normal because of the game on Monday so that can help us. We've got a day off tomorrow to refresh and then work hard over the weekend to build towards the game. You want that next game to come around as quickly as possible, especially after a defeat."

Any trip to Chelsea presents a daunting task, but after back-to-back defeats in the Premier League, Gareth says now could be a good time to come up against the Champions.

"We've got to look at it as a good time to play them. They're coming off the back of two disappointing results and confidence may be a bit lower than normal. We've got to go there, try and frustrate them and make it an even tougher time for them. But we need to focus on ourselves. If we do things right then we'll have an ever better chance.

"People will be looking and saying 'we're really up against it', but it will take one result. There's no better place to try and go and lift the confidence than Stamford Bridge. We realise that. And if we do work hard then there's no reason we can't do that."